Mills and Boon Author lunch...

Every autumn, Mills and Boon authors gather en masse in London for lunch. We talk - a lot. We have a glass of something uplifting. We eat wonderful food and get updates on what's happening from the publishing team at Harlequin and Mills and Boon.

We get to hear about new series, see advance artwork for new book cover designs and meet old friends and new. This year I was able to meet Charlotte Phillips. Last year, you may remember, I mentored her through the final stages of the New Voices competition. This was her first lunch as a contracted Mills and Boon author. A very special moment for both of us which, since I forgot to take a camera with me, is sadly unrecorded. I'll just say that she's young and pretty and her debut book, Secrets of the Rich & Famous will be published in December.  You'll be hearing lots more about her.

Instead I'm posting a photograph of the surprise goody bags that were waiting for us this year as a treat from Mills and Boon.

It contained a small bottle of champagne, a gorgeous pink notebook and pen, and chocolates. And oh, what chocolates! They were Kir Royale truffles from my own supplier of choice, Hotel Chocolate and this is what they looked like.

I resisted the temptation to scoff them all on the train home, and shared them with the best-beloved, who is and always has been my supporter. They were fabulous!

Off with the high heels now, and the posh two-piece and back to joggers and a t-shirt while I sweat out the last chapter of the book I've been working on for what seems like forever. (Moving house and writing and book are mutually exclusive activites, I've discovered!)